​News,  Press, & Features

March 2021
​Southern Flavors Meet Ashkenazi Traditions at Passover in This Family’s Kitchen with Jewish FOod Society

At times, Jessie’s Southern roots made their mark on family meals. Ellen’s father’s birthday often coincided with Passover and Jessie would prepare matzo meal fried chicken with a hot sauce kick. The dish was a blend of a recipe from Minnie, who used matzo meal for Passover, and one from Jessie, who loved hot sauce.

​Find the Matzo Fried Chicken recipe here. 

Also featured on MUNCHIES Food By Vice. 
Photo by Penny De Los Santos, Food Styling by Judy Haubert and Prop Styling by Mariana Velasquez
Photo by Fatima Khawaja

March 2021
FEatured ON Saveur: Cue the Compote: Strawberries and Rhubarb Steal the Spotlight in this Passover-worthy Dessert

In my mind, strawberry and rhubarb are flavors intrinsically linked to Passover.

​Find the recipe for Roasted Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart with Marscapone Cream here. 

February 2021
A Trip to Vienna is as Close as this Pink Foil-Wrapped Wafer From Saveur

 
There is something decidedly different and richly satisfying about the five-layer wafer, perfumed with cocoa and hazelnut. From its distinctive pink packaging down to its perfectly mouth-sized rectangle shape, the confection provides more than a sugar rush. 
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Join Ellen on her armchair trip to Vienna here and find the recipe for Raspberry Mascarpone Pie with Hazelnut Wafer Crust here. 
Photo by Ellen Gray
Photo by Farideh Sadeghin

January 2021
Pie Amidst the Pomp: The Dessert That Could’ve, Should’ve Been at Biden’s Inaugural Luncheon Featured in Saveur

An affinity for fruit tucked into pastry can be traced back throughout American presidential history—and throughout American history itself. Making use of the fruits and nutmeats flourishing along the Atlantic Coast and throughout the South, pies have long reflected our nation’s bounty and seasonality.

Check out the whole story here. 

December 2020
Pie for Everyone on Saveur 

A penchant for pies creates a slice of community in New York’s Lower East Side

​Ellen speaks with Petra “Petee” Paredez, head baker and co-owner of Manhattan’s famed Petee’s Pie Company.
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​Read the interview here. 
Photo by Victor Garzon
Photo by Rocky Luten. Food Stylist: Anna Billingskog. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgepeth. 

November 2020
From Food52: I Make 600 Pies Each Thanksgiving—Here’s What I’ve Learned Along the Way.

By planning ahead, your worries should be limited to choosing between whipped cream or ice cream, and where to hide a slice of pie for breakfast.

Find the recipe for Apple Cider Pumpkin Pie here. 

October 2020
The Mentor We Miss Most: Molly O’Neill 
​from Saveur Magazine

The creaking of the front door announced the arrival of our mentor, followed by a parade of dogs in varying degrees of decline. Hair piled high atop her head, a vibrant scarf draped around her neck, Molly supplied prompts while we scribbled in Moleskine journals. Quick to laugh and quick to scold, Molly could be your toughest critic and most fervent cheerleader.

​Molly O’Neill’s LongHouse Granola Recipe
Photo by Maura McEvoy
Photo by Ty Mecham

OCtober 2020
Story and recipe ON FOOD52
Meyer lemon galette with Sautéed Greens, Rainbow Carrots, & Sweet Potato Mash 

I did share, however, my mother’s passion for lemons, both the thick-skinned grocery store variety and the elusive thin-skinned Meyer lemon. Squeezed over ice cubes in tall glasses or bobbing in a cup of hot water, we drank these beverages in lieu of coffee after dinner. In her classic yin and yang philosophy of sharing, my mother reminded me that lemons eroded tooth enamel but were packed with antioxidants.
Find the story and recipe here. 

January 2020
"Boozy and Easy" Featured on Saveur
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This simple ice cream dessert—a new take on a classic—is retro glamour in a pie shell.

​Read more about Lalla Rookh Pie and find the recipe here.
Photo by Kat Craddock
Photo by Thomas Payne

December 2019
"This Easy Cranberry-Lime Pie is the Sunshine Your WInter Holiday table needs" 
​featured on Saveur

Snowy meringue and vanilla whipped cream are fine for wallflowers, but a good holiday party shakes things up, which is why cranberry and lime should be included on your dessert guest list.

​Read the whole story and find the recipe here. 

November 2019
Easy pumpkin pie with press-in oat crust recipe and article with Saveur 

​Baking pies from scratch is a commitment that doesn’t always coincide with our busy lives, so it helps to have a few time-saving tricks in your apron pocket. Whether you’re celebrating Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving, or both, here’s how to expedite your dessert production—and temper your holiday baking stress.

​Read the full article and check out the recipe. 
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Photo by Thomas Payne

October 2019
"Time to Update your Pie Baking Tool Kit" with Saveur 

​For anyone staring down an empty pie plate and a fruit bowl overfilled with the best of the season, here are the pie baking tools you will find yourself reaching for again and again.

​See all of Ellen's choices here. 
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OCTOBER 2019
A Brief History of Canadian Thanksgiving featured on Food52
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Like their neighbors to the south, Canadians plan their Thanksgiving menu with a nod toward leftovers. Dessert generally features a pumpkin pie and possibly a maple-kissed butter tart.

Read the full article here. 
Photo by Sydney Kramer
Photo by Thomas Payne

August 2019
10 Expert Tips for the Perfect Summer Fruit Pie featured by Saveur

As a professional pie baker responsible for nearly 100 pies a week, I find myself swimming against the tide of summer fruit. Up to my oven mitts in circles of buttery dough and stacks of aluminum pie tins, my days are spent as a fruit and crust liaison, stone fruit analyst, berry emissary, and pie whisperer.

Read all 10 tips and find the Peach-Raspberry Pie recipe. 

July 2019
"a billowy coconut cake made of 1,000 kisses: Behold the Schaum Torte" ​Featured in Food52
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Kisses were considered after-school cookies, while the schaum torte was more of a birthday showstopper. With the Sunbeam mixer set at the dizzying speed of three, egg whites morphed into meringue with ease, glossy and blindingly white, fragrant with vanilla.

​Find the whole story and recipe here. 
Photo by Julia Gartland. Food Sylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop stylist: Brooke Deonarine.
Photo Credit:  Mackenzie Smith Kelley

November 2018
"The Beauty of the Blintz in  Summer"
featured on The World in a pocket

Armed with a red-handled potato masher, the farmer’s cheese or pot cheese was placed into a Pyrex bowl. Adding an egg yolk, a tablespoon of sugar, a few gratings of what was then called lemon rind, not zest, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, the rich filling was divvied between the pancakes. Rolled up with their corners tucked in, the chubby pockets could barely contain their high cholesterol selves.

​You can read the full story and see the recipe here.

November 2017
"The play that goes wrong kicks off holiday season with pie from master baker ellen gray" -broadway world

This is one of my favorite shows - the perfect cure for whatever ails you. It's not star-driven, it is a true ensemble...
​Read the full article here

April 2017
"Why this birthday cake is different from all other birthday cakes" -Spoonful magazine​
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My father always presided over the holiday table, telling the story of lengthy Seders he endured as a child and how his grandfather would try to fast forward through the Haggadah only to be reprimanded by his grandmother.

JANUARY  2017
"Two Fistfuls of Flour, One of Shortening"
 -Sweatpants & Coffee

At the helm of the kitchen was Jessie, a formidable presence who turned out three meals a day for a family of six, and also found time to fill cookie tins and bake our birthday cakes and birthday pies with seeming ease.
Read the full article here

JANUARY 2017
"The Other Pie Day" -Spoonful magazine
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Pie’s lesser-known celebration, National Pie Day falls on the 23rd of January. Launched in 1986 as a marketing ploy by the American Pie Council to increase sales of Crisco on the famous blue labeled shortening’s 75th anniversary. The Council hoped this would provide the perfect incentive to encourage pie baking among the country’s home cooks. 

December 2016
"My Week chez julia" -Matters magazine

Ellen's "Provencial Landscape Drawn With Butter" appears in Matters Magazine. 

Read the full article here. 
Or, if you're local, turn to page  14.
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"Non, non, not La Pichouline! La Pitchoune. Ici... Our food itinerary includes but is not limited to croissants and local yogurt for breakfast, rich cheeses and charcuterie plates for lunch and dinners abundant with fresh herbs, garlic, olives and wines from the region."

NOVEMBER 2016
"Pie strategies from a baker who makes 600 for thanksgiving" -Food52

Want to know what it's like to bake 600 pies for Thanksgiving? Senior Staff Writer & Stylist of Food52 Sarah Jampel sat down with Ellen to talk Pie-Production for Thanksgiving. Read the full article here.

NOVEMBER 2016
"PIE IT FORWARD" -Spoonful magazine

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner never really goes as planned. So No More Mr. Nice Pie suggests getting friends together ahead of time for a Pie It Forward party. You'll have fun and, better yet, get pie crust in the freezer and ready for the big day!

Read the full article here.

October 2016
"Sweet New year apple pie" -Spoonful magazine


​Celebrate the New Year 5777 with a sweet apple pie as featured in Spoonful Magazine. Read the full article here.
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On the High Holidays, we pause and reflect, paying close attention to the promise and splendor of autumn. The hope for a sweet New Year is echoed in the desserts associated with Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, traditionally cakes and pies featuring an abundance of apples...

April 2016
"At the able baker, sugar, butter and a little nostalgia" -new york times

Congratulations to Julie Pauly and the Able Baker for their wonderful article in the New York Times. ​Thank you Fran Schumer for the pie shout-out. So happy you like the pies!

Read the full article here
"What We Liked All scones, even the gluten-free ones; all cookies, especially espresso shortbread half dipped in chocolate; all cakes, especially golden with chocolate buttercream; all pies, even oddities like buttermilk and maple buttermilk."

February 2016
"Artistic License: The talents are many for lara tomlin" -Maplewood matters

Maplewood Matters Magazine - NMMNP's newest piece, "Artistic License" is featured in the winter edition.
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You can read "Artistic License" here. Locals can turn to page 37 in hard print.

​​Lara's beautiful work can be viewed here.
A gifted illustrator, Tomlin works in a number of media, including the bakery's sugar cookies, intricately detailed in royal icing. 
Tomlin's illustrations have been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Smithsonian, the Wall Street Journal and Spin...

OCTOBER 2015
"Priestess of pie" -Maplewood matters

​Maplewood Matters Magazine - Fall edition is hot off the press and includes an article written by No More Mr. Nice Pie!
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"Priestress of Pie" discusses One Big Table / Cook n' Scribble's Longhouse Food Revival, The Able Baker, and Ellen's upcoming book, Why Pie?

Read "Priestess of Pie" here or if you're local, pick up a hard copy and turn to page 18
"Hungry for something completely different from days coaxing fruit into pie shells, I had an idea for a book,but needed a jump-start
​My own contribution was revealed after dinner in the form of dessert: 80 pies, baked in the span of two days
​The weekend concluded with a sumptuous country-style breakfast that demonstrated how almost everything is better with 50 pounds of bacon

October 2015
"In Search of Perfect Fruit" -Midlife Boulevard

No More Mr. Nice Pie featured on Midlife Boulevard.
 Read here!

October 2015
Apple pie 101 at Once upon a Tart

Once Upon A Tart Presents:

We're hosting our first hands-on cooking class on Monday, October 19th from 7-9pm for $80!

Want to learn how to make these gorgeous apple tarts? How about a perfect double crust apple pie? 

Settle in with a glass of Prosecco, slip on an apron and let us lead you through making your own crust, rolling it out, slicing apples and perfecting the filling. You'll make a pie and a tart and pack up your creations to take home with you. We'll also taste a slew of local apples to learn which are best for baking. 

Class will be led by No More Mr. Nice Pie Ellen Gray and Once Upon A Tart Proprietress @aliciaawalter. 

Call us at 212.387.8869 to reserve your spot.

SEPTEMBER 2015

The LongHouse 2015 Food Revival dazzled with both food for thought and the palate. One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting Why Pie artist Neil Brigham. Check out Neil’s artistry at http://www.neilbrigham.com
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June 2015
Wine & Dessert Pairing

Great evening pairing wines and desserts to support the Caroline Fund for Brain Cancer Research. We were especially excited that cake artist extraordinaire, Colette Peters joined us for such a wonderful cause. Wine educator Hank Zona reports here: http://thegrapesunwrapped.com/wp/2015/06/12/notes-from-the-first-of-many-grapes-unwrapped-able-baker-pairing-things

March 2015
Midlife Boulevard 

Midlife Boulevard is gearing up for Passover and featured No More Mr. Nice Pie's Asparagus and Leek Pie with Potato Crust.
See the feature here.

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For a week long on matzoh, here’s a recipe featuring spring flavors in a crust that borrows closely from latkes. Equally comfortable for breakfast, brunch or ...

March 2015
Seattle Weekly

No More Mr. Nice Pie was featured in Seattle Weekly's Food & Drink! Read the entire article by the wonderfully talented Dakota Mackey here. 

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Ellen Gray—baker and blogger for No More Mr. Nice Pie—and I pitted and peeled fresh fruit for 80 pies this past September for an upstate New York retreat called The Longhouse Food Revival... 

February 2015
Pies for your Valentine

Class is in session… and it sold out before we could even advertise it.   Ellen will be teaching Pies for Your Valentine in Short Hills on February 9th.  Menu Highlights include cherry pie, hand pie with apples and raspberries, and well, it simply wouldn't be Valentine's Day without an abundant portion of chocolate…

For those of you who were able to grab a ticket, we're looking forward to seeing you next Monday!

Details and Updates regarding the event can be found here, here, and here.

December 2014
Why Pie?

Great news!

Thanks to you and 221 others, Little BIG Books has been successfully funded. Congratulations! Now you can visit the project’s comments and celebrate with your fellow backers.

September 2014
Longhouse Food Revival

80 pies later...
Read More at cookNscribble

Ellen Gray, the author of the forthcoming Little BIG Book, Why Pie learned pie allows for improvisation in between the crusts, in the middle.

August 2014
Longhouse Food Scholar's Program

Baker by day, writer by night, Ellen completed the month-long LongHouse Food Scholar's Program under the helm of Molly O'Neill. Read more from Syracuse.com here. 

Ellen is currently researching and penning  a Little BIG Book called WHY PIE. As part of a four-part series, WHY PIE  explores the  role of pie in the Midwest. For more information or if you would like to donate to the project, check out the kickstarter.
Baker Ellen Gray, of Maplewood, NJ, made more than 70 pies for the event, apple crumble pies, cherry almond crumble pies, Wyman's of Maine blueberry lattice pies, South Dakota peach pocket pies, rummy sour cream pies, buttermilk pies, transparent pecan pies and about 2 dozen Shaker lemon tarts. Everyone that waited in the long pie line received a slice from all the pies they wanted to eat.